I bought 13 BTC for $7367.23 AUD via advertised payment method "National bank transfer". The seller received the full payment in his bank account the next day. The seller acknowledged that the payment was received. The seller did not release the 13 BTC from escrow. The seller opened a dispute instead. Localbitcoins admins adjusted the BTC amount in escrow from 13 BTC, to ~12.7 BTC, effectively changing the terms of a fixed deal. Localbitcoins.com admin stated in an email to me that they have no doubt that the money was received by the seller. My bank has confirmed to the sellers bank that the bank transfer was legitimate after I called my bank. Localbitcoins.com have not released my 13 BTC from escrow. The seller has not released my BTC from escrow. Localbitcoins.com staff stated that they did not release the BTC from escrow, because I posted the case on reddit. As of now, my BTC have not been released from escrow.

Longer version:

LocalBitcoins.com - Do admins support fraud? Is there a bias towards sellers?

Nov 18 - I bought 13 BTC for $7367.23 AUD from the seller, the payment method he requested was "National bank transfer (Australia)" I sent the money from my St. George bank account to his Westpac bank account in two payments (due to a daily limit, I had to send $5000.00 immediately (afternoon Australian time) and $2367.23 after midnight, I was not aware of this limit in advance, I kept the seller updated via the message system, he received the funds the next day without delay.).

The BTC price went up a lot (check the charts between Nov 18 - 20).

The seller requested that I cancel the trade, even after I told him the money has already been sent.

I sent my ID documents to the seller as well as the banking receipts 1 and 2 and offered to call him. He did not provide his phone number.

The seller did not release the BTC from escrow, instead opened a dispute.

I uploaded several other ID documents as well as bank statement and transaction receipts via the dispute form to localbitcoins staff. Including credit cards from my St. George bank account, government IDs and more.

I had conversations with localbitcoins admins on IRC and one staff suggested I "ask forums what the community thinks".

Localbitcoins admins asked me for my bank account number so that the seller can return my money and cancel the trade. By doing this they supported his goal not to honor this trade and sell his BTC for much more.

I disagree with changing the terms of a trade that was fixed previously and fully paid for by myself.

There was an incident at my residential address.

Nov 21 - I post the story on reddit to get feedback from the community as suggested by localbitcoins staff, to protect myself (because an unknown man came to my house the day before), and to warn other people about the slow & unfair dispute resolution taking place on localbitcoins.com

The seller begs me to remove the post because it damages his reputation.

Reddit removed the post.

The seller asked localbitcoins staff to give me what I want and to release my BTC from escrow.

Localbitcoins staff state that because I posted the story on reddit, they can not release the escrow now.

Nov 22 - Localbitcoins admins write to me that "Regarding to the money transaction, we have no doubt that it have been successfully conducted and credited to the seller's account".

Yet localbitcoins admins do not change the escrow amount back to 13 BTC, neither do they release the escrow to me.

My bank confirmed that they have informed the recipients bank about the transfers being completely legitimate.

As of now I still did not receive any of my BTC. The seller is not releasing the escrow, localbitcoins admins are not releasing the escrow.

Localbitcoins admin requests that I send them a photo of myself holding a utility bill.

Seller alleges that he spoke to police in Australia and that they told him I have a "history".

I provide localbitcoins admins with a photo of myself holding a utility bill next to my face.

I provide localbitcoins admins with a police clearance certificate from the Australian Federal Police as well as employment reference letters.

Nov 23 - I still did not receive any of my BTC.

I have had a couple of very stressful days and sleepless nights.

By now the entire message history, conversations and sequence of events would be too much to read for anybody, however I have everything saved and can back up every single statement I am making. There was more to the entire story, including a threat to my physical safety, when a stranger (male) trespassed on my property on Nov 20, 2 days into the dispute, observing my home, walking around my house, in my garden, waiting for me to get back home. I saw him, concerned neighbors informed me about this as well. - The ID I provided to the seller included my home address.

They did not adjusted amount. You are forgetting that they charge 1% Fees.

1% fee would be 12.87 BTC, down from 13 BTC. Why would the admins be scamming like this? This makes no sense. If everything is correct, why do the admins not release escrow? Are they butthurt that they got called out?

They did not adjusted amount. You are forgetting that they charge 1% Fees.

1% fee would be 12.87 BTC, down from 13 BTC. Why would the admins be scamming like this? This makes no sense. If everything is correct, why do the admins not release escrow? Are they butthurt that they got called out?

They did not adjusted amount. You are forgetting that they charge 1% Fees.

1% fee would be 12.87 BTC, down from 13 BTC. Why would the admins be scamming like this? This makes no sense. If everything is correct, why do the admins not release escrow? Are they butthurt that they got called out?

No, the buyer does not pay a fee, I think the seller does. This adjustment was not because of a fee.

Localbitcoins staff changed the amount because they think this is a fair solution to the sellers dispute! The seller claimed he had a disadvantage because I had to split the transfer in two parts. In fact he had no disadvantage, he received both the next day. Quickly even for a transfer between two different banks.

"National bank transfer" on localbitcoins.com means a transfer between two banks within the same country, where the accounts do not have to be at the same bank - A national bank transfer between two banks in Australia can vary between 1 - 3 business days, depending on the banks. This is common knowledge - A seller who does not want to wait 1-3 business days would only offer payment methods such as "cash" or "cash deposit" or at least a "transfer within the same bank".

According to https://localbitcoins.com/fees only the person who created the advertisement pays fees. In my case the seller advertised, and I responded to his advertisement, so I should not be liable to pay any fees.

If you would post an ad to buy, then you would pay fees as the buyer, this was not the case for me.

According to https://localbitcoins.com/fees only the person who created the advertisement pays fees. In my case the seller advertised, and I responded to his advertisement, so I should not be liable to pay any fees.

If you would post an ad to buy, then you would pay fees as the buyer, this was not the case for me.

wording: "Please also note that we would have released the escrowfor you already, if that reddit post would not have happened. Now it cantake quite a time to get a peaceful resolution here."

I agree. Giving that excuse was a bad business decision by LBC support. They might have a legitimate reason to delay your refund. I cannot imagine any reason to blame a delay on your publicly complaining.

Please do not write off dozens of honest businessmen because of a support person's ill-chosen words. Just be cautious in choosing a trader. Traders' policies and feedback reputations are open and visible to the public. Some of us even offer no-questions-asked money-back guarantee when requested within 24 hours, thus bypassing the LBC dispute system entirely.